page_title: Ancient Egyptian pottery
section_title: Decoration
hierarchical_section_title: Ancient Egyptian pottery / Decoration
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Gefäss mit auf dem Rand aufgesetzten Elefantenfiguren, Altes Ägypten, Naqada II, 3700-3200 v. Chr., el-Chozam (?), Keramik, ÄM 22388
context_page_description: Ancient Egyptian pottery includes all objects of fired clay from ancient Egypt. First and foremost, ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Such items include beer and wine mugs and water jugs, but also bread molds, fire pits, lamps, and stands for holding round vessels, which were all commonly used in the Egyptian household. Other types of pottery served ritual purposes. Ceramics are often found as grave goods.
  Specialists in ancient Egyptian pottery draw a fundamental distinction between ceramics made of Nile clay and those made of marl clay, based on chemical and mineralogical composition and ceramic properties. Nile clay is the result of eroded material in the Ethiopian mountains, which was transported into Egypt by the Nile. This clay has deposited on the banks of the Nile in Egypt since the Late Pleistocene by the inundation. Marl clay is a yellow-white stone which occurs in limestone deposits. These deposits were created in the Pleistocene, when the primordial waters of the Nile and its tributaries brought sediment into Egypt and deposited in on what was then the desert edge.
context_section_description: Egyptian potters employed a broad range of decorative techniques and motifs, many of which are characteristic of specific periods. There are three points in the manufacturing process in which decoration could be added: before, during, or after the firing process.
  Since the predynastic period, potters added decorative elements in the molding stage, creating unusual shapes or imitating other materials, like basketwork, metal, wood or stone. The majority of the 'fancy features' were created during the process of shaping the vessel and smoothing its surfaces, long before it was fired. The elements were either shaped from a piece of clay by hand or impressed into the clay while it was still malleable - often causing fingerprints to be left on the inside of the vessel. In figural vessels, these were often parts of a human or animal body, or the face of the god Bes or the goddess Hathor. It was also common to cut out parts of the vessel in order to imitate another type of material.
  Even in the earliest Egyptian pottery, produced by an early phase of the Merimde culture, there are incised decorations like the herringbone pattern. In this technique, the surface of the pot was scratched with a sharp instrument, like a twig, knife, nail, or fingernail before it was fired.
  Pots fired in a firing pit often have a black upper rim. These black rims were increasingly a decorative feature, which required technical knowledge to produce consistently. In combination with a dark-red colour and polish, this black-topped ware was one of the most fashionable and popular types of pottery. The black colour was a result of carbonisation, created by the introduction of smoke particles to the oven during the firing process for example. Some aspects of this special process are still unclear.
  Painted decoration could be added with a brush before or after firing. For specific patters, paint might be sprayed on the surface of a vessel, or it might be dipped in the paint. There are eight major types of painted pottery from ancient Egypt:
  Petrie's white-cross-lined style: this pottery is found only in Upper Egypt in the Naqada I culture (c. 4000–3500 BC). It s usually made from Nile clay (Nile clay A). The surface is a dark red or reddish brown and is polished. The characteristic feature of this style is the white or cream coloured painting of geometric patterns or (occasionally) animals, plants, people and boats.
  Petrie's decorated style: this pottery is typical of the Naqada II and Naqada III cultures (c. 3500–3000 BC). It is usually made of marl clay (marl clay A1). The surface is thoroughly smoothed, but not polished and its colour varies from light red to yellowy grey. Red-brown paint was used to paint a number of motifs - most commonly, ships, deserts, flamingos, people, spirals, wavy lines, and Z-shaped lines.
  White background style: this style was made in the First Intermediate Period, early Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, and the Late Period (c. 2200–300 BC). The surfaces of this style were decorated with various colours on a white background, after firing. The decoration normally depicts carefully designed offering scenes.
  The scenic style: this style occurred sporadically in all periods. It is very similar to the white background style, except that the scenes were painted directly onto the surface of the vessel without a white background.
  The blue-painted style: this style occurred from the middle of the 18th dynasty until the end of the 20th Dynasty (c. 1500–1000 BC). It is characterised by the use of blue pigments, along with black, red and occasionally yellow. The main motif is floral decorations: lotus flowers and buds, and individual petals of various flowers, painted as if they were on a thread draped around the neck and shoulders of the vase. Depictions of young animals and symbols of Hathor and Bes are also encountered. The vessels are usually made of Nile clay.
  The brown-and-red painted style: this style developed at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty (c. 1500 BC) from the decorative use of lines in the late Middle Kingdom and Second Inter
caption: Pot with elephants on the rim from the Naqada II culture (ca. 3700–3200 BC)
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